Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.
I felt something soft licking my face, slow, wet strokes coating my skin in warm saliva.
Instinctively, I fumbled toward the source, but the licking didn't stop. It just... kept going.
"It feels like one of those weird dreams you can't quite explain," I thought.
A moment later, something heavy dropped onto my stomach, jolting me awake.
What I saw made my brain grind to a halt.
Only inches from my face was a large pink creature with an absurdly long tongue hanging from its mouth as if it had a mind of its own. It stared back with a hopelessly vacant expression—the kind that made it look like thinking had never been one of its strengths.
For ten long seconds, neither of us moved.
I studied the creature, desperately trying to make sense of what I was looking at. It simply continued staring at me with that same dopey yet strangely adorable face. This time, though, I noticed something else.
Affection.
And then it clicked.
"Of all the things I expected to wake up to this morning, a Lickitung in my bed wasn't one of them."
"Looks like I'm still dreaming."
I pinched my arm and smacked my forehead a few times.
Nothing changed.
Then came the second wave.
The barrage of licks resumed ,fast, chaotic, and completely relentless. The Lickitung bounced around the bed like an overexcited toddler before burying me beneath another storm of slobbery affection.
"Licky! Licky!" it cried happily.
"Okay, okay! That's enough, Lickitung!"
The Pokémon finally hopped off the bed, landing with an awkward thud before looking back at me with the exact same empty smile, as though nothing unusual had happened.
Now that I had a better look at it, I noticed its bubblegum-pink body, the cream-colored markings across its round belly, and its height of nearly four feet.
Then my eyes drifted lower.
"His tail is almost as ridiculous as his tongue."
"AAAHHHHH!"
A sharp pain suddenly ripped through my skull.
I clutched my head as an avalanche of information crashed into my mind.
Pokémon species.
Battle mechanics.
League regulations.
Type matchups.
Pokédex entries.
Decades' worth of knowledge poured into my brain as though someone had downloaded the entire Pokémon franchise directly into my memories.
When the pain finally subsided, only one thought remained.
"This is absolutely ridiculous."
Somehow...
I had woken up in a version of Earth where Pokémon were real.
"Wait... wait, wait..."
I looked around the room.
It was nothing like the one I remembered.
Just yesterday, I had been a twenty-three-year-old college student living in a cramped dorm room. This bedroom, however, clearly belonged to a teenager.
Pokémon posters covered the walls.
Shelves overflowed with plushies, figurines, and model Poké Balls.
Even the bedsheets were Pokémon-themed.
The room practically screamed obsession.
Then the pain returned.
Far worse than before.
Fresh memories memories that weren't mine came crashing into my consciousness like a tidal wave, threatening to drown my own.
For several agonizing moments, I could do nothing but endure.
Eventually, the pain faded.
The foreign memories settled into place with unsettling ease, as though they had always belonged to me.
I released a long, exhausted sigh.
Slowly sorting through my newly inherited memories, I turned back toward the pink Pokémon.
A name surfaced naturally.
Bubbles.
A small smile crept onto my face.
"Well, well... good morning to you too, Bubbles."
I reached over and scratched the cheerful Lickitung beneath its chin.
"Licky, licky," Bubbles mumbled happily, closing his eyes in contentment.